Silent Sincerity
by theoneandonlybeepboop
Summary: While at afternoon tea one day, Catania asks when Mariposa and Carlos will get together.


It was a warm and sunny Saturday morning on Flutterfield, and Mariposa was enjoying it by sleeping in. Sure, she could be doing other things with her free day, but after a week full of giving tour after tour, Mariposa decided to catch up on some much needed sleep.

If only she had the time.

"MAARIPOOOSAAAA!"

The doors to Mariposa's small cottage burst open. In came Willa, a butterfly fairy of eighteen, looking rather frazzled. She looked over to her best friend's bed and groaned rather loudly upon realizing Mariposa was still asleep.

Mariposa's eyes fluttered open. A feeling of annoyance washed over her, as her peaceful sleep had just been interrupted. She rolled out of her bed and yawned rather loudly.

"Geez, Willa," Mariposa breathed, wings barely fluttering, "Did you really have to wake me up so early?" She put a hand over her mouth as she yawned again.

Willa cringed. "It's not early!" She yelped. "And we have tea with the royals in _five minutes_!" She looked up at Mariposa's clock and groaned. "Aww, four minutes no-ow!"

Mariposa gasped and looked at the clock. "Oh no!" Immediately, she flew into her closet, tossing out only a few articles of clothing. "How could I have slept in so late?!" She emerged in her pink and orange party dress, hair tied up in a rather messy bun. "Do I look okay?"

"Doesn't matter!" Willa flew over and grabbed Mariposa's wrist and pulled her out of the cottage. "We have _two _minutes!"

The pair zipped through the main square of Flutterfield, floating up, dropping down, anything to get to the palace in time. Of course, they wouldn't make in time. Mariposa could feel her dignity slip away each second she wasn't at the palace.

Finally, though, Mariposa and Willa made it to the outside of the palace. They curtsied to the guards standing outside, attempting to look graceful, despite Mariposa especially looking like she had just woken up. Once getting past the guards, they flew at a light-speed once again, trying to get to the balcony within at least five minutes of the original meeting time.

_Oh sweet flutter corn,_ Mariposa thought as they reached the doors to the balcony. _I can't be late again! King Regellius still hasn't warmed up to me!_

Willa smoothed back a strand of hair. "Well, at least we aren't an hour late, right?"

Mariposa shrugged, pushing the doors open. "I guess you're right—But still, just because we're only five minutes late doesn't mean we aren't late at all." Looking over at the tea table, she turned a dark rose shade upon seeing the royal families from both Flutterfield and Shimmervale seated at the table. She dipped down into a rather deep curtsy, almost hitting Willa with her wings as she went down.

"Your highnesses!" Mariposa exclaimed, continuing to curtsy. "Our deepest apologies for being late. I understand that this is most unacceptable and would—"

She was interrupted by the sound of Prince Carlos chuckling.

"It's quite alright, Mariposa! We all know you like to use your Saturdays to sleep in." He gestured to the chair floating next to him. "Now, you and Willa should come and enjoy some tea with us!"

Mariposa smiled sheepishly and flew over to take her seat next to Carlos. Willa took the empty seat on Mariposa's other side. Across the table from Mariposa sat Princess Catania, who smiled when she sat down.

"Hey!" Mariposa called upon making eye-contact with Catania. "Long time no see!"

Catania nodded before taking a bit of a raspberry pastry. "Hey! How have things been since your last visit to Shimmervale?" She asked, mouth still full of pastry.

King Regellius swatted his daughter's shoulder. "Catania! We're supposed to be making a good impression on the royals of Flutterfield, not acting like _common folk_!"

"No need for such manners," Queen Marabella said, taking a sip of tea. "Heaven knows my son has displayed his fair share of poor manners over the years."

"Mother!" Carlos cried, trying to hold back a laugh. "These are our guests! We wouldn't want to make them think _all_ butterfly fairies have bad manners!"

The whole table laughed. A year after Mariposa's first visit to Shimmervale and almost all of the stereotypes on both sides had disappeared. In fact, they had become somewhat of a joke between the butterfly and crystal fairies.

Mariposa shook her head. "Things have been a little hectic since I've gotten back, Catania. Especially now that we have all of these tourists coming to us now, they all want _me_ to give them tours now. I've been so worn out lately—that's why I slept in this morning."

Carlos nodded. "Yes, since Mariposa has been a little in over her head lately, I decided to help out at the library. Maybe she will be on time more often now." He laughed. "Hopefully my help will be better than the last time I helped out at the library!"

"Yeah, well," Mariposa started, rolling her eyes playfully, "It doesn't hurt to have a little help, every now and then, I guess." She nudged Carlos' arm. "And someone could use a little time interacting with fairies other than his mother, so this is doing us both a favor, I think."

Queen Marabella nodded. "Oh, yes! I do love my son very much, but before all of that nonsense with Henna, he didn't really have all that many friends." She sighed. "I'm glad he's got Mariposa and Willa to make sure he actually talks to other people."

"It seems Mariposa has a knack for making sure our royal children don't just talk to us parents," King Regellius said, nodding toward Catania.

"And to think," Willa blurted, waving her hand wildly, "Just two years ago, _I_ was her only friend! Now she has _loads_!" She shrugged. "I honestly have no idea how she does it!"

Mariposa looked down at her teacup. "Please, Willa, all the friends I've made is just a consequence of every thing that's happened. It really wasn't anything _I_ did."

Carlos put a hand pm Mariposa's shoulder. "And is that such a bad thing? Most of us were and are still very shy, so it's not like a little magical intervention was a bad thing."

"I guess you're right," Mariposa said, looking back up from her teacup. She smiled and took a sip.

Catania smirked. "Hey, Mariposa, Carlos," she began, taking a long sip of tea. "Are you guys ever gonna get together?"

Mariposa glanced at Carlos and snickered.

"Actually…We've been dating for a year and a half."

Catania spit out her tea, Willa choked on a cupcake, and the king and queen simply raised their eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, you two have been dating for _how long_?" Willa shrieked, pushing away from the table.

Carlos laughed. "About a year and a half. Did we not make it obvious?"

"It's certainly news to me," Marabella quipped. "You two aren't the most…Affectionate."

Catania snickered. "Yeah, you two give off less of a 'actually in a seriously relationship' and more of a 'stupid teenagers pining for each other' vibe."

"How could you not tell me!?" Willa called, running her hands through her purple hair. "I'm your best friend! I should be allowed to know these kinds of things!"

Mariposa shrugged. "I thought you already knew. Sorry if we were a little more inconspicuous than we thought." She looked back down at her lap again. "I guess we don't really care about _displaying_ our relationship."'

"So…" Catania began, smirk quickly returning to her face. "Have you two ever…Done it?"

"Catania!" Regellius nearly yelled. "You do not ask questions like that!" He leaned in close to her. "_Especially when it's the prince of our once sworn enemy!_" He whispered.

Before either equally flushed Mariposa or Carlos could answer, Marabella shot an icy-side glare at the two of them. They both only looked away in response.

•••

The rest of the tea went by awkwardly, with Willa continuing to mutter about how she felt kept in the dark about the situation, Catania _carefully_ choosing her words, and Queen Marabella only speaking with King Regellius.

Afterwards, Mariposa and Carlos flew back out to the very edge of Flutterfield to talk about a couple of things.

Mariposa held her hands behind her back and looked out into the horizon. Are we really just not all that affectionate towards each other?"

Carlos shrugged. "I guess not…I mean, can you recall the last time we actually held hands?"

"Have we ever?"

_Okay wow so I can kinda see why people didn't pick up on it,_ Mariposa thought. She shook her head. "Well, does it really matter that we don't do that kind of thing? We know how we feel and that's what really counts, right?"

Carlos nodded, though Mariposa could see that it was unsure. "Yeah, and besides—I'd much rather just read together in silence than go for a romantic flight.

"Yeah," Mariposa agreed, putting her hands on her hips. "I don't care about other people's opinion of us! I know you love me and you know I love you! What only matters is us!"

"Yeah!" Carlos pumped his fist in the air rather awkwardly. "We don't need to change a thing!"

Mariposa held out her fist. Carlos bumped it.

"You know what, maybe we should change some things," Mariposa said, looking down at her fist.

Carlos nodded. "That would probably be for the better."

It was noted that the next time everyone had gathered for tea, Carlos and Mariposa were holding hands under the table.


End file.
